Emily blinked. "Just the three of us?"
"Well, don’t forget Richard," Miranda said nervously.
"Oh, the four of us," Emily said drily.
Zainab looked at Miranda. "I was thinking another person might make it more festive."
It had been so nice not talking about this for the last three days. "I don’t want to."
"Well, it wouldn’t be fair to Richard if he were the only guy here," Miranda pleaded.
"Then invite the solar car guys," Emily snapped.
Zainab groaned. "But then all they’d do is talk about their latest design, and I’m already an expert."
"Miranda, don’t you know anyone else?"
"I wouldn’t want to eat with them if I didn’t have to."
Emily looked at them both. "Fine," she said after a minute. "On one condition: everything is going to be vegan."
Miranda clapped her hands. "Yes!"
"And you guys can handle the invitations."
"I’ll take care of that," Miranda winked.
"And I’ll do the decorations." Zainab looked around. "I’m going to have to ask Richard to bring some chairs..."
Emily closed her eyes. She was going to see this as an excuse to try out some new recipes, nothing more.
CHAPTER 53
Mitch was home on Tuesday night. He was sitting on his bed, looking at the entry in his phone for Emily’s number. He wanted to call or text, but maybe it was time to take a hint. He knew why she was so upset, but what else could he do?
He jumped when his door buzzed and he buzzed back without asking who it was. He was at the door already when there was a knock. He smiled as he opened it.
His face fell. "Miranda?"
"Why, yes, I’d love to come in."
"Yeah, good to see you too." He closed the door as soon as she walked in.
"What’s your problem?"
"Okay, enough. How was your Friday night?"
"Fabulous. Emily and I drooled over James Bond, listened to someone named Thelonious Monk and ate a lot of chips and ice cream."
"I didn’t do anything, okay? I ran into Kyra and I just wanted her to go away. Emily walked in at the worst possible time-"
Miranda held up her hand. "I get it. Zainab gets it. I think on some level Emily gets it, but you’ve got to understand where she’s coming from."
Mitch slumped against his wall. "Yeah, I get it too, but I don’t know what to do about it."
"Have dinner with her on Friday."
"What? Is that her idea?"
"Hmm, not exactly. But Zainab and I convinced her it was a good one."
"Uh huh. Sounds like she can’t wait to see me."
"God, you are such a moron, you know that? She’s madly in love with you but you broke her heart. Make an effort if you feel the same way."
"You know I do, but..."
Miranda crossed her arms. "No, there is no ‘but’! Are you sure you’re the same guy I met last fall? And you’re the same guy I saw in the student center, looking like someone had punched him in the stomach? And the same guy who was so desperate to see her a few weeks ago?"
"A lot has happened."
"No it hasn’t! I heard your story and hers, and it sounds like a whole bunch of nothing. You took up with some nymphomaniac, and she ended up with a loser. And now you’re both free. Is anyone dead? Married? Has anything irrevocable happened? Blah, blah, blah, she doesn’t trust me. Blah, blah, blah, I don’t know what she wants. That’s stupid, and you know it. These are not obstacles. These are inconveniences. These are things you have to do a little bit of work to fix, but you can fix them. Unless you’re going to be a lazy slob who likes the sound of his own whining better than getting what he wants."
Mitch wasn't lazy. "Fine. But I’m bringing a friend."
"Not Kyra, I take it?"
"Weren’t you my friend first?"
"What can I say? I’m a sucker for a girl willing to get into a fight with a bully."
"Excuse me?"
"Just be there at seven o’clock on Friday," she said as she walked out.
CHAPTER 54
Emily and Zainab were setting the table when Richard arrived with the chairs. Zainab dragged Richard to her room. "Better be ready by the time everyone else gets here!" Emily called after them.
Emily was trying to go to her happy place. Maybe Mitch would bail at the last minute.
She had just finished setting up the fruit and crackers when the doorbell rang. She braced herself to see Mitch, but instead saw a man about five foot ten with slightly longish hair standing in her doorway, holding a bottle of wine.
"Hi there. You must be Emily."
"Uh- sorry?" she stammered. "I am. And you are?"
"Martin. Martin Shepard." He gave Emily the wine and shook her hand. "Is there anything I can help you with? Ooh, something smells good."
Emily sniffed the air. "That would be the mushrooms!" she said and hurried back into the kitchen. She took them out just in time to avoid burning and placed them on a plate. Martin reached to grab a still hot mushroom and gobbled it down. "Wow, those are good."
"Thanks!" Nothing like a culinary compliment to break the ice, she thought. "But who are you?"
"Mitch’s friend. Really, he didn’t mention that he invited me?"
"Yeah, no." Apparently Richard knew as he had brought enough chairs over for six. "But since you like mushrooms, please stay. And remind me to get the quiche out in a minute."
"Quiche? Yum! I haven’t had that since I got to college."
"Yeah? So what year are you?"
"Junior, I think. Hard to keep track with all of these blasted co-ops."
Emily smiled uncomfortably as he looked her over. "I wouldn’t know. I managed to avoid those things."
"Smart girl."
She shrugged. "So how did you meet Mitch? Classes? Co-ops?"
He grabbed another mushroom. "One class, then the Ireland trip."
"The Ireland trip." Her happy place no longer had any vacancies.
Doorbell. Emily put the mushrooms down and ran to the door. There was Miranda and with her Mitch, holding a bouquet of flowers. Why did he have to wear that nice, dark blue shirt that made his eyes stand out even more?
Emily plastered a smile onto her face. "Hello. I was just chatting with Martin."
"Oh, sorry sweetie. I thought I’d get here a little earlier to introduce everyone," Miranda said, coming through the doorway and giving Emily a kiss. "Hi, you must be Martin."
"And you must be Miranda."
"The one and only."
"I'll say," Emily said under her breath, still trying not to look at Mitch.
"Where’s Zainab?" Miranda asked.
"Oh, she was doing her hair," Emily said as if she'd just remembered something. "Why don’t you help her with that?"
"These are for you," Mitch said at last, handing her the vase filled with pink lilies and snapdragons.
"They’re beautiful." She heard Zainab scream, and then Miranda. Now they were even. She waved at them over her shoulder. "You can come out and say hi to everyone now!"
Mitch tried not to laugh. "Nice one," he said softly.
"You know how petty I can be."
He took a deep breath. "Are you going to ask me in?"
"Your friend is here, so that would probably be the nice thing to do."
"Do you like him?"
"He seems nice. And he likes the mushrooms, so I’ll let him stay."
Emily seated herself next to Martin, who sat next to Miranda, who sat next to Mitch, who sat next to Zainab, who sat next to Richard. She hadn’t meant to be right across from Mitch. "So," she said, turning to Martin while she forked her salad, "you’re a junior?"
She made an effort to make Martin feel welcome. She was interested in his opinions on the mayoral race as well as his views on public education in the city. She disagreed with most of what he said- she was classically liberal, whereas he might have been best described as libertarian- but she followed up with a lot of question
s. She could see Richard look at Zainab and Mitch glare at Miranda.
Emily and Martin were just getting into Ray Flynn’s appointment as Ambassador when she heard Richard talking about Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Emily scoffed. "Don’t start that again. Picard’s okay, but Sisko kicks his ass."
"Didn’t Picard kill Sisko’s wife or something?" Martin asked.
"Yeah, but I don’t see how that makes him superior. And he did it when he was borgified, or whatever. Sisko never got borgified."
"But didn’t Sisko murder some ambassador to get the Romulans into the war?" Richard asked. "Picard never compromised his morals like that."
"You have totally missed the point!" Emily said indignantly. "He compromised his morals for the greater good! That was the best episode of Deep Space Nine. Ever. And that’s why Deep Space Nine kicked ass, certainly The Next Gen’s."
"But no one was really cute on DS-Nine," Zainab said, and Miranda giggled. "Wesley was cute, and Riker was kind of hot."
"You don’t think Worf was totally hot?" Emily asked indignantly.
"Yeah, but he was on Next Gen too," Zainab answered calmly.
"But he wasn’t smoking until he was with Dax."
"Yeah," Martin nodded. "And Dax was pretty hot, too."
"I liked her when she was played by Terry Farrell, but not that last one," Richard offered. Zainab elbowed him in the ribs, then Richard laughed and tickled her.
Mitch had been watching in silence until now. "Still an Original Series fan, myself. Kirk and the ship, a love story unrivaled in the history of television."
Emily looked at him, trying not to remember their first conversation. "No," she said finally. "Still a Spock fan."
"Yeah," Miranda said dreamily. "Spock was so dignified and reserved. Definitely made you wonder what he’d be like in bed."
Everyone was silent until Martin burst out laughing. "I think it’s time for dessert," Emily said through giggles.
Miranda gasped when she saw the beautiful cupcake in front of her. "Oh my God. Is this- ?"
"You’ll see." Everyone bit in, and between sighs pronounced it the best cream-filled chocolate frosted cupcake they had ever eaten. When everyone was done, Emily grinned. "And that, my friends, was a completely vegan meal, cupcakes and all."
"Oh wow. I’m going to become a vegetarian now," Martin said admiringly. "But I can still drink, right?"
"Speaking of which," Zainab got up and refilled everyone’s glasses. "Here’s to the chef."
"Emily!" Everyone drank, and Emily smiled, trying not to look at Mitch.
"Thank you all for coming. And here’s to Jessie," she said pointedly, and raised her glass. Mitch and Martin shrugged, but drank anyway.
~~~
Richard had offered to take everyone to a nearby piano bar, but Emily insisted that Zainab and Miranda stay back to help her clean up, and they didn’t dare complain.
As soon as the waitress put down the drinks, Mitch turned to Martin. "If you date her, I’ll kill you."
"I want to make sure I’m clear on this," Martin said after he took his first sip of Guinness. "That’s Emily? The Emily? The Emily you dumped so you could shack up with Kyra? You chose Kyra over someone who’s funny, smart and can really cook, and not to mention totally gorgeous and likes politics and Star Trek as much as you do?"
"Shut up."
"Aw, get over yourself! She isn’t interested in me. First of all, you’re much better looking than I am. Second of all, she couldn’t keep her eyes off you."
"She only looked at me a few times. I was staring the whole time, I should know."
"And you’ve got to watch the staring thing, my friend. I found out the hard way women don’t find that attractive."
"She was checking you out," Richard said wearily, finishing his drink. "What you saw was her trying not to look at you. She likes you."
"She hates me."
Richard thought for a moment. Mitch could tell Richard wasn't sure about him. That made them even. "Maybe a little of that too."
"If she likes me so much, then why was she practically sitting in his lap?" Mitch whined before he took a big swig of his beer.
"Did you go to high school?" Martin said with exasperation. "She wasn’t interested in me. She was interviewing me for someone."
"Who? Zainab’s taken- "
"Yes, thank you," Richard said firmly.
"- maybe Miranda."
"No," Richard said, not looking at either of them. "She’s off the market, trust me."
"Then who else?"
A look of horror came over Richard’s face. "Ugh! Don’t worry, she’s too young!"
Martin patted Mitch on the shoulder. "That’s too bad. But Mitch, just let me know if it doesn’t work out between the two of you, because if not-"
"I repeat, I’ll kill you."
CHAPTER 55
Over the weekend, Mitch thought it over rationally. Richard and Martin were right. Emily wasn’t interested in Martin. He wasn’t her type. She wanted him to go out with one of her friends (maybe this Jessie she always talked about?) and if she made Mitch jealous in the meantime, bonus, right?
Unfortunately, the stress of impending senior finals combined with the memory of Emily listening intently to Martin’s every word outweighed Mitch’s rational thoughts. He walked to the library on Monday after his first class and stormed into the room where Emily was studying. "You are not going to date Martin!"
He felt like a fool as soon as the words left his mouth. Emily put down her pen. "Thank you so much, because this whole adult thing is much tougher than it looks. Here I’ve been thinking about what happens after graduation and having this existential crisis. Where will I go? What will I do? Very Scarlett O’Hara. But then you come to tell me what I will not do, and suddenly it’s nice and easy again. I mean, there are still some things I have to decide, but at least one thing is off my plate. Unless you’d like to throw around any other commands?"
He frowned. "I’m serious. You’re not dating my friend."
She was on her feet now. "You're such a hypocrite, you’re almost a paradox. How do you still exist?"
"I didn’t date a friend of yours."
"Am I supposed to give you points for not screwing one of my friends, just some stranger? Because it’s okay to blow someone off for some person you’ve never met before, but not someone’s friend? Then you can feel betrayed?"
"I’d only just met you, too." God, why did he speak before he thought?
"Right," Emily said, calmly gathering her papers and books. "And I think if we count the days we’ve actually seen each other, in the flesh, we’ve got a little less than a month going for us. And with that person you’ve got at least three, right? So why don’t you go back to her, or find someone else you’ve known for a longer period of time?" She raced out the door. He didn’t block her way because he knew that would be a deal breaker, but he followed her out of the library.
"I don’t know what to do to tell you how sorry I am," he said as soon as they were outside. "I wish things could have been different."
"Again, how do you live? You are such a victim of your own circumstances. It’s not in your power to make things different?"
She was so fierce and beautiful. "Maybe it was, Em, but I didn’t know it. I would have changed everything if I’d realized I could have. I was so miserable."
"Why am I not surprised that a selfish motivation would get the point across?"
"That isn’t what I mean." Fierce, beautiful and exasperating. "Kyra was... ridiculous, but I was miserable because I wasn’t with you." She looked down at the ground. "You have to believe me," Mitch said. "I thought about you every day. Maybe I didn’t know you for a long time, but I dreamed about you so often, living that one perfect night over and over in my head, I might as well have known you since the day I was born." She looked up. "I thought I could forget you with someone else, but then I couldn’t let myself forget. It’s my fault, and I’m sorry."
He came in closer, and she didn't push him away.
"I don’t know what to say," Emily said.
"What do you want to say?"
"Let’s run off and stay up late again," Emily said. "Let’s eat something this time and then go back to my place." Mitch’s face burned. "But I don’t think I can say that right now. I believe you, but I don’t trust you. I wish I did."
"What do I have to do?"
"I don’t know. I’m sorry."
They stood for what felt like an eternity. Bravely, at last, Mitch took Emily’s hand in his. "Then I guess I’ll have to figure something out."
Emily changed the subject. "Are you going to Miranda’s thing on Thursday?"
"What ‘thing’?"
She laughed and then he laughed. "I don’t know," she said at last. "Something about an art gallery on Newbury Street, some artist she knows." He felt her fingers intertwining with his. He wasn't sure who started it.
"She didn’t ask me."
She smiled. "I’m asking you."
"So I should take you there?"
"I’ll meet you there."
"Okay. I’ll meet you there." He leaned in closer and put his chin gently on the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her hair. She squeezed his hand tighter. "Emily?"
"Hmm?"
"Will you walk me to class?"
CHAPTER 56
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Emily and Mitch ate, studied and rode home together. It was nice to have that routine together.
He didn’t meet her on Thursday, but sent her a text saying that he was getting home a little earlier so he could change. Emily bit her lip, trying to imagine what he could do to make himself any handsomer.
Smiling, she grabbed the black dress, the one she should have worn that first night, and the black heels.
"Oh, wow!" Zainab said when she saw Emily in the dress. "Should I make myself scarce when you get home?"
"Yeah, that’ll be hard." Richard was in finals crunch too, and Zainab was spending more of her time at his place than at the apartment. "Don’t change any plans on my account."
The Smartest Girl in the Room Page 23